Swedish fashion giant H&M is investigating 20 alleged instances of labour abuse at its Myanmar garment factories, Reuters has reported.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) tracked 156 cases of alleged labour abuse in Myanmar garment factories between February 2022 and February 2023 – up from 56 cases in the previous year.

H&M told Reuters that according to the BHRRC report, wage reduction and wage theft were the “most frequently reported allegations”, as well as unfair dismissal, inhumane work rates and forced overtime.

An H&M spokesperson said: “All the cases raised in the report by BHRRC are being followed up and where needed remediated through our local team on the ground and in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders.

“We are deeply concerned by the latest developments in Myanmar and we see increased challenges to conduct our operations according to our standards and requirements.”

According to the report, there have been 20 cases of abuse linked to H&M suppliers and 21 cases linked to suppliers of Spanish fashion giant Inditex over the two-year period.

This comes after Inditex also recently said that it was “phasing out purchases from the South East Asian country”.

Inditex, Myanmar’s government and the Myanmar Garment Manufacturing Association did not provide comment.

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